Awkwafina Tried a Lot of Bottled Water-Based Names Before "Awkwafina"

Awkwafina, who starred in this year's Ocean's 8 and in the upcoming Crazy Rich Asians, was very nearly not "Awkwafina." As she told Jimmy Kimmel on Thursday night, she came up with it as a teenager while looking for a "stupid name" and it apparently came very naturally.

Kimmel: How did it come naturally? Were you at a convenience store?

Awkwafina: I wanted something--at that point I never thought that people would actually call me "Awkwafina," I just thought it would make me and my other friend, who at that time was my branding manager at age 16, you know, we would giggle.

Kimmel: Were there other options? Did you go through other choices?

Awkwafina: Dassani, with two S's. We nixed that.

It's a good lesson for how dumb choices you make as a teenager can follow you literally your entire life, so, no pressure kids. And while Awkwafina's parents didn't name her "Awkwafina," they also aren't crazy excited about her current career. When Kimmel asked if they were bigger fans of her music or her acting, she laughed, "Neither."

They're just cool with it, they didn't kick me out of the house or anything, but to this day my grandma's like, "You're not even acting, dude." Like she saw the trailer for Crazy Rich Asians, and she was like, "You're not even acting, that's just, like, you."

Awkwafina may have disappointed her dad by not following his dreams for her, but the rest of us lucked out that she didn't pursue that air traffic controller career.